GrandWest has introduced a number of environmentally friendly initiatives on the complex. One of these involves recycling the 3 000 litres of water generated at the ice rink each day.
The gardens were the obvious beneficiary but the water temperature was too cold for the plants so the engineers also experimented with reusing the water in the cooling towers attached to the air conditioning plant. However, the water is now stored in water tanks where it reaches a normal temperature and is then used to water the gardens.
According to General Manager Mike van Vuuren, “There is an obvious saving in that we don’t need to draw as much water from municipal sources for top up purposes. Over a period of 30 days, this means we will have saved in excess of 90 000 litres of water, equal to three 30-cubic meter swimming pools.”
